Post #9

Little Kids... Big Potential is all about Ms. Cassidy's first grade class and how they use technology. The students seem to really enjoy working with blogs, wikis, and using other tools online to learn and share their work. I have had a hard time imagining how I will use technology in a high school English classroom, but this video has me convinced that students want to show their work off and receive feedback from others. Ms. Cassidy raises the question, "Why would they want to write something with pencil and paper for me to see when they can write it on their blogs for anyone to see?" Students may be more apt to work harder and put forth their best effort if they are submitting their work to an online writing portfolio. These blogs could include all major essays as well as literature reviews. Basically any work that can be done on paper can be done on a blog to create incentive to try harder. One problem with this may be the accessibility of computers and internet connections. In my area, there are not devices in every classroom and it would be hard to schedule enough classes in the library or labs where enough computers are available. Although we assume that students have enough access to a computer to print out the occasional paper, we cannot assume that they have enough access to be making multiple blog posts a week. That being said, if it is possible to create a class blog of "online writing portfolios" I think it has the potential to be very beneficial in a high school classroom.